This invention relates to an accessory device for vehicles, and more particularly to a lighting device to illuminate the tire and wheel area of a vehicle. In particular, the lighting device can be used to make the tire appear to be stopped as it rotates or can provide emergency lighting of the wheel area when required. Any information on the side of the tire can be communicated as the tire rotates.
The use of vehicles for displaying any messages and advertising products for sale has existed for some time in the art. The large number of vehicles and their exposure to the public provides an excellent source for such messages an advertising. The message can be displayed in any convenient location on the vehicle with the most commonly used locations being the side doors as well as the front and rear bumpers. A person can purchase a variety of messages printed on a plastic sheet with an adhesive back to attach the sheet to a bumper. Signs are also available with magnets to temporary attach the sign to a side door of the vehicle. Stickers on the windows of vehicles are also used to provide identification and to display various types of information. Essentially every convenient location on vehicles is used in some way for written information as well as graphical displays. Signs are also added to the top of the vehicle which are illuminated to display a message on the sign to others, especially at night.
Some locations are more convenient than others depending on the type of information and the movement of the vehicle. For example, the side of a tire is used for messages for the slow moving or stationary vehicle. Normally tires have a black tread and sidewall and many tires have white letters displayed on their sidewalls to advertise the tire manufacturer. The demand for raised white letters on the sidewall of the tire has become greater as owners have become more interested in making a statement by displaying information on the side of their tires. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,436 molded rubber articles are disclosed for use on tire sidewalls to provide a combination of decorative, multi-colored, personalized, safety-enhancing and utilitarian type information. The rubber articles provide limitless styling for the vehicle which is stopped or near stopped. However, this location becomes unavailable for the traveling vehicle due to the tire rotating during travel by the vehicle.
The sidewall of a tire can be used to display written and graphical indicia if the tire can be made to appear stationary while the vehicle is moving. Stroboscopic instruments are common in the industry for making moving bodies intermittently visible by illuminating a part of the body with bright flashes of light. Short flashes of very bright light can make a portion of an object appear stationary, if the frequency of the flashes is synchronized to the movement of the object. For example, stroboscopes manufactured by Hasler-Tel Company Inc. of Stuart, Fla. are battery operated and have a range of operation from about 50 to about 30,000 flashes per minute. A short flash duration is also required to keep the indicia from appearing to have blurred image. Flash durations of 50 microseconds are common in the industry. However, stroboscopes in the industry are normally used for inspections of rotating machinery and are usually hand carried or tripod mounted. Stroboscopes in the art are not designed for displaying information on the side of a rotating tire.
Critical to displaying information on the side of a tire is the accurate illumination of the spot on the tire where the information is located. Sensors that can both respond to the frequency of the rotation of the tire and give a signal corresponding to the same exact location each revolution of the tire is required. A magnet and the use of magnetic field responsive switches, preferably the Hall-effects sensor switch, can achieve both of these functions without a direct electrical connection between the magnet and the sensor switch. An application of this type of sensor was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,337 to signal the relative position of two doors. Each application of the Hall-effects sensor switch is unique to the application and device it is to be used with.
General lighting of vehicles and the area around a vehicle for aesthetic effects, and to attract the attention of others to an operator's vehicle, has become something that has considerable economic value in the industry. People like to show off their vehicles. Some of the most recent inventions include lights around the license plate that sequentially operate to produce a light traveling around the plate, lights that illuminate the roadway directly under the vehicle, lights inside the front grill, lighted antennas and the like. These lighting devices have very little utility except for their aesthetic appearance. Care must be exercised in lighting the vehicle to not create a safety hazard by excessive projection of the light from its source.
The reflection of light from a automobile tire is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,376. This patent discloses using an adjustable light reflector attached to the valve of the tire. The light protrudes just outside the outermost edge of the tire's sidewall so as to reflect light once each rotation of the wheel creating a flickering effect. The reflector is illuminated by the lights of other vehicles and information is not displayed on the reflector.
The need continues to exist to provide a means to use the sidewall of a tire to display various types of information. If the sidewall of the tire can be made to appear stationary it presents an excellent location for indicia on the vehicle. A continuing need also exists to find other marketable means to illuminate the vehicle to attract attention. This need can be made more useful if the device can be made to have a utilitarian value.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a means for displaying indicia, including written and graphical information, on the side of a tire as the vehicle is moving. In particular, the indicia is made to appear stationary as the tire rotates by illuminating the tire with bright flashes of light.
Another object of the present invention is to install a stroboscopic light and sensor on a vehicle to illuminate a wheel well and a side of at least one tire of a wheel. The light and sensor is to operate using the DC power of the vehicle to provide the illumination.
Yet another object of the present invention is to stroboscopically light the sidewall of a tire of a vehicle in either a constant frequency mode for near-stopped or stopped vehicles and in a synchronized mode for the moving vehicle. The light is to make the rotating tire of the moving vehicle appear to be stopped.
A further object of the lighting device of this invention is to give it more utility by providing an alternate mode of operation to light the wheel well area of a vehicle during repair tasks being performed on the vehicle wheel. This object is to improve the health and safety of the repair person.